Rocking bassinet



Dec. 20, 1960 E. REYNOLDS 2,964,762

ROCKING BASSINET Filed saint. 21, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 B? qgic ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 21, 1959 INVENTOR' tw sbm United States, PatentO "ice ROCKING BASSINET Edd Reynolds, Shiloh, Va.

Filed Sept. 21, 1959, SerQNo. 841,336 1 Claim. (c1. 5-109) This invention relates vbroadly tothe art of bassinets,

and in its more specific aspectsit'relates to bassinets having mechanical rocking means combinedtherewith; and the nature and objects of the invention will be readily recognized and understood by those skilled in the arts to which it relates in the light of the following explanation and detailed description of the accompanying drawings illustrating what I at present'believe to be the preferred embodiments or mechanical expressions of my invention from among various other forms, arrangements, combinations and constructions, of which the invention is capable within the spirit and scope thereof.

In the development of a practical rocking bassinet it has been one of my purposes to overcome certain disadvantageous characteristics which are inherent in prior art bassinets of which I am aware. For instance, it is highly desirable to provide a rocking bassinet which is knock down or separable for facilitating transportation and storage of the bassinet. It is also desirable that the basket component of the combination be easily removable for use apart from the other elements of the combination.

I have devised a rocking bassinet which is separable into its various components in a simple manner and without requiring any screws, nuts, bolts or the like to effect the fastening of the various components together or the disassembly thereof.

In devising this bassinet I have evolved an ingenious arrangement for removably associating certain components together whereby, due to the relative positioning of certain of the parts a wedging or locking action will occur so that the basket will be soundly mounted and supported for rocking or pivoting motion.

I have provided a motor for operating mechanism which is operably associated with the basket for causing rocking motion thereof when the motor is actuated. It is of advantage to provide an arrangement whereby the basket may be manually rocked independent of the motor. The bassinet of this invention provides an ingenious arrangement whereby the mechanism is automatically operatively associated with the basket when the motor switch is actuated to the on position and is automatically disengaged from the basket when the motor switch is actuated to the off position. Thus, when the motor is not operating the rocking mechanism is free of the basket so that it may be rocked independently of the motor and the rocking mechanism.

The bassinet of this invention. while light in weight is strong and sturdy and may be operated for long periods of time without requiring maintenance care. It may be economically produced and operated, and its operation, assembly and disassembly requires little or no skill.

Because of these and other meritorious attributes this bassinet is unusually suitable and attractive to the average mother or householder who does not have any particular mechanical skill. It is a highly practical and useful apparatus which has been designed especially for safe, pleasant rocking of a baby without requiring any Patented Dec. 20, 1960 skill on the part of the mother or other person who may be in attendance and without requiring the attention of anyone during the operation of the apparatus.

With the foregoing general objects, features and results in view, as well as certain others which will be apparent from the following explanation, the invention consists in certain novel features in design, construction, mounting and combination of elements as will be more fully and particularly referred to and specified hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a view ,in perspective of the rocking bassinet.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of an end of the rocking bassinet with parts thereof broken away to illustrate the pivotal mounting of the basket.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of portions of aleg and the basket mounting frame illustrating the means for mounting the latter on the former.

Fig. 4 is a detailed end elevational view partly in section .illustrating the motor and the rocking mechanism which is operated thereby.

Fig. 5 is, a detailed side elevational view partly in section illustrating the motor and the rocking mechanism which is operated thereby.

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the basket.

The bassinet which I have devised consists of four major components: two pairs of supporting legs which I have designated generally by the numeral 1, the basket supporting frame or bracket designated generally by the numeral 3, the basket 5 and the rocking motor which is designated generally by the numeral 7. As will become apparent as this description proceeds the basket is removably pivotally mounted on the basket supporting frame or bracket while said supporting frame or bracket is remoyably mounted and fixed at each end on the legs which support the entire apparatus. The motor which imparts rocking motion to the basket in which the baby is laid is mounted on a part of the basket supporting frame or bracket.

Each pair of supporting legs 1 is of generally U or horseshoe shape comprising upright spaced apart legs 9 connected at their upper end by a curved or arcuate section 11. Conventional casters 13 are fixed on the end of each leg of the pair of legs to aid in the movement of the assembled bassinet from place to place. At the uppermost central part of the arcuate section 11 I provide a transverse groove or notch 15 extending inwardly a distance from the upper surface of this arcuate section.

The frame or bracket 3 for pivotally supporting the basket 5 comprises an elongated, longitudinally extending connecting member 15 from each end of which projects upwardly a bracket arm 17. The connecting member and the bracket arms 17 preferably are of integral construction and the bracket arms preferably extend from the connecting member so that the included angles are slightly greater than thus each arm extends upwardly and outwardly from an end of the connecting member. At approximately the juncture of each arm 17 with connecting member 15 I provide notch 19 which is cut at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the connecting member 15 so that the axis of each slot extends downwardly and outwardly. On the inner side of each bracket arm 17 adjacent the upper end thereof a bottom 23, side walls 25, end walls 27, and in each end wall centrally thereof and adjacent the top edge I fix a pivoting pin 29 whicli' projects outwardly from its Wan.

In Fig. 6 of the drawings I have illustrated as an example the structure of the bottom 23 of the basket 5. The bottom. may be composed of a frame 31 to which the side and end walls of the basket may be fixed. I provide a cross bar 33 which extends transversely across the bottom of the basket at the center thereof and connects the opposite frame members. I provide a cut out section 35 in the cross bar to reduce the thickness thereof and extending transversely across the cross bar at the mid point of the cut out section 35 is a fixed rod 37 which I shall term an engaging rod. The purposes and functions of the bottom structure of the basket will be explained hereinafter.

The motor 7, which is provided for imparting rocking motion to the basket through mechanism which will be described, may be any suitable small, low horsepower electric motor which is enclosed within a housing 39. The motor is fixed in operative position on the connecting member 15 substantially midway between the ends thereof. A pair of brackets 41 may be fixed to and extend from the motor housing for affixing to member 15 by screws 43. I preferably employ washers 45 to absorb and eliminate vibration when the motor is operating.

The drive shaft 47 of the motor extends through and beyond the motor housing and mounts on its end a crank 49, one arm of which is pivotally connected as at 51 to a floating rocker arm designated in its entirety by numeral 53. The rocker arm 53 is of curved configuration and its connection 51 to the crank is adjacent to but removed from what I shall term its lower end and on the upper surface of the rocker arm adjacent to but removed from the upper end is a transverse notch 55. It will now be apparent that the curved rockingarm 53 is floatingly and pivotally mounted on the arm of crank 49 as at 51.

I provide a switch 57 for controlling the operation of the electric motor 7. A lever 59 for moving. switch 57 to on and off positions is connected to main motor control lever 61 by an arm 63, the main motor control lever 61 being pivotally mounted as at 63 to motor housing 39. A tension spring 65 is fixed at one end in a hole 67 in the lower end of rocker arm 53 and extends therefrom to main motor control lever 61 to which it is fixed as at 69.

With the components of the bassinet in disassembled or knock down condition in order to assemble them into operative assembled condition it is merely necessary to position the basket supporting frame and bracket 3 for receiving in each notch 19 thereof a pair of legs 1. In this assembling operation the notch 19 is inserted in notch 15 and since notch 19 is cut at an angle to the transverse axis of connecting member 15 a wedging or locking action will occur to firmly yet removably connect basket supporting frame and bracket 3 to pairs of legs 1, this wedging action resulting from the angular relationship of notches 15 and 19 and the outwardly spreading position which is assumed by the legs 1 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

With the legs and basket supporting frame and bracket assembled as described, the basket is pivotally mounted by inserting pivot pins 29 in the sleeve sockets 21. In this operation the ends.of the basket are slightly pressed or flexed toward each other to permit the pins to be inserted in the sockets. The conventional basket has suflicient give to permit this mounting operation, however, in the event a more or less rigid basket were used it is within my contemplation to provide a spring loaded pivot pin so that it may be retracted during the basket mounting operation.

With the apparatus assembled in this manner the motor may be operated to impart rocking motion to the basket. In Fig. 4 of the drawing I have illustrated in dotted lines the position when the motor is in inoperative or off position. It will be seen that in this position lever 61 is in retracted position, and spring 65 is in relaxed condition thereby permitting rocking lever 53 to pivot downwardly on its pivotal mounting 51 on crank 49. This inoperative position of the rocking lever is illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 4.

When it is desired to operate the motor and cause the basket to rock the lever 61 is grasped and pushed for wardly into the full line position of Fig. 4. This action places spring 65 under tension rocking lever upwardly on its pivot 51 until the engagement rod 37 of the basket is received in notch 55 of rocking arm 53. The pivoting of lever 61 into motor on position moves lever 59 forwardly turning switch 57 into motor on position whereby the motor will operate causing shaft 47 and crank 49 to rotate. This action will cause rocking arm 53 to reciprocate in a more or less horizontal motion to thereby rock the cradle since rod 37 is positioned in notch 55. It will be appreciated that upon retraction of lever 61 to turn the motor off the rocking arm 53 will pivot downwardly, releasing rod 37 from notch 55 so that the basket may be completely free of the rocking mechanism.

Consideration of the drawings indicates that the bottom of the basket is so constructed that there is ample space provided for operation of the rocking arm relative thereto.

It will now be recognized that I have devised an economical, simple and highly efficient rocking bassinet.

I'claim:

A rocking bassinet including, in combination, supporting legs, a basket supporting frame mounted on said legs, a basket pivotally supported from said basket supporting frame, and means imparting rocking motion to said basket, said means including a motor and a control switch therefor, a lever connected to said switch to actuate it to and from motor on position, a pivotally mounted rocker arm connected with and operable by said motor and said rocker arm being engageable with said basket to impart rocking motion to said basket when the motor is operating and discngageable from said basket when said motor is not operating, said pivotally mounted rocker arm being connected to and operated by said lever to pivot the arm to position engaging said basket when said lever is swung to switch on" position and to pivot said arm to position disengaged from said basket when said lever is swung to switch off position.

Doran July 8, 1902 Yurkovich Aug. 9, 1949 

